Merry Boxing Day

It was Ellie's birthday yesterday, and I attempted to make her a gluten free Colin the Caterpillar. The Swiss roll was lovely with a raspberry and white chocolate filling but my decoration was crap, as always. It tasted delicious but didn't look so great. Mark thinks it's so bad it's worthy of being on Bake Off..... extra slice! Cheeky! 

I must tell you about my bargain. Isaac was working on Christmas Eve (in ASDA) and he messaged about noon to say they were reducing the meat. We dashed along and I got a medium turkey crown for £3.68!! And fresh stuffing for 60p. Just delighted. I love a bargain.

Winter solstice has past. This is exciting as, although it's now officially winter, the shortest day is behind us and it's only going to get lighter. Whoop! But talking of winter it's been pretty mild really. This time last year we had the winter duvet on the bed. I also had a throw over that. And every night, without fail, I went to bed with a hot water bottle, mainly because I had freezing feet. This year however, we still have the summer duvet, no throw or blanket in sight and I've not used my hot water bottle once! What's going on? Even though we keep our bedroom really cold I'm so warm in bed. Often there's a leg or a bum hanging out of them covers to cool down! I think it's so weird. From one extreme to another. 

After having to finally remove my professional eyelash extensions (very reluctantly I might add, though they had become thread bare and spindley). My face just looked so plain and dour! My natural lashes are tiny and pathetic. My lovely daughter sent me some DIY ones to wear at my works Christmas party. What a disaster! I got the tools all wrong - thought the tweezers were a stick and the clamp a prodder lol, and I ended up with fake lashes all over my fingers, stuck to the sink, up the walls, everywhere except on my eyes! I gave up, it wasn't happening. I don't think I've enough real lashes for the plastic ones to stick to. For those of you with lovely long lashes you don't know how lucky you are! 

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas yesterday, whatever or whoever or however you celebrated! Only the last few days of 2025 and it'll be gone forever. Bless you and your families as we turn the page and start a brand new chapter. You can write it any way you see fit. Stay positive and be kind!

The universe rewards the brave. 

Little bird

Walking Bella on Sunday we came across a small bird sitting on the grassy path. I went close to look and it didn't move so I thought it was dead. Then Bella sniffed it and it moved. It tried to get away when I picked it up. It was bleeding and I carried it home and put it in a shoe box. I rang RSPB but the recorded message asked me to ring SSPCA which I did. They told me to call my local vet. I got out of hours service and they said the nearest open veterinary was the animal hospital in Aberdeen to almost 35 miles away. So off we went. When I arrived I took a peek in the box as the bird had died. I promptly burst into tears. I felt rather daft but I was really sad. The vet said it had badly injured it's leg and would have had little chance of surviving. Poor wee thing. 

This week I was in Aberdeen and I came across a woman called Gillian Wilson! And she went by Gilly too. What are the chances? We sat together and she showed me her car number plate - G17 LLY. I was very jealous lol. 

I have a condition called Formication. Of course I do lol. It's defined as -  a tactile hallucination, the strange feeling of insects crawling on or under your skin when none are actually there. It's so weird. My ears constantly feel tickled like spiders running over them. I don't like spiders and the thought of them in or around my ears is a little disconcerting.  I should add that a doctor hasn't diagnosed this, just Dr Google with the help of Good Morning Britain via Lorraine. Ha ha ha

I can't believe the next time I'll be writing  Christmas will be over. I hope you have fun between now and then. This is the best bit. My favourite day is actually Christmas Eve! The anticipation and joy just can't be beaten. Make the most of every moment because in a flash it'll be gone for another year! 

Merry Christmas!

The most difficult roads lead to the most beautiful destinations. 

My week

I'm going to tell you about my week. 

I made this wreath, and I'm really happy. The circle was already prepared, which I suspect is the most difficult part. My job was just to make it look pretty. It was great fun and surprisingly relaxing. We had access to all sorts of stuff, holly and fern, berries and bows, bells and whistles (ok, there were no whistles). We had Christmas treats to eat and Christmas music in the background. My first attempt and I'm so proud. 

I had my first turkey dinner of the year. Peterhead football club hosts Festive Friends for the community every year. I was there to support a resident along with other staff and residents. The meal was fine and I managed quite a lot! Local school kids sang us Christmas songs which is always a treat - they were so enthusiastic. The football mascot visited (a seagull, I forget his name, Sammy I think) and the kids were just delighted. He was better than Santa!

I ate the best mince pie I've ever had. So whilst I managed a good amount of dinner I had zero room for mince pies, so I parcelled a couple up for later. OMG it was awesome. They were home made by one of the local bakeries, so guess where I was shopping yesterday lol.

I watched the worst Christmas movie, ever! 'Oh. What. Fun' with Michelle Pfeiffer. It was very bad. Don't waste your time. And this is coming from me, that watches all the terrible Hallmark Xmas films! 

All week I kept thinking I was coming down with a cold - a scratchy throat, lethargic and bone tired but nothing has developed. I did have a hot toddy the first night. We didn't have whisky so I used rum, so maybe it knocked it on the head. We'll never know, but I'm feeling ok just now.

Isaac is driving me to work this morning. It's our family Christmas lunch and party. I'll be super busy all morning helping to get prepared but then I shall relax with a real glass of vino. Yes, ladies and gentlemen I will be drinking alcohol at work! Only at Christmas. 

Have a great week and see you next Friday x

If you stumble, just make it part of the dance.

The opposite

Last week it was all the nice things, this week I'm having a moan. I am aware that I may have moaned about this last year, and I apologise if this is old news, but it bugs me so I'm letting go again. 

It's Christmas time and we, like most families, buy the big tubs of chocolates - Quality Street, Heroes etc. Now in these tubs we all have our favourites be it the purple one, the toffees or the soft centres. I have my favourites and my family have theirs. Now the problem is that I definitely have my favourites but I don't actually dislike any of them. I mean, hey, they are made of chocolate! However, no one else will eat the coconut ones! The coconut ones are my least favourite, but I'll eat them (I refer to my previous comment that they are still chocolates). So we all tuck into our favourites (I love the soft centres, Mark loves the toffees, not sure about Ellie and Isaac). I ignore the coconut ones because I do NOT love them! This means all the chocolates are eaten except them. They are always left in the tub, then I'll eat them because there's nothing else left. This makes my family mad (i.e. Mark). He thinks I should not eat my favourites and I should tuck into the blue ones (or Bounty's) while he eats all his favourites. This is unfair and I want it on record! It's not my fault he (nor Isaac) eat them! But I want to eat the ones I really want just like they do. If they are the only ones left then that's their hard cheese, and yes I will eat them! They're not getting chucked in the bin, after all, they are made of chocolate!!

I thought of a great present for Isaac. (Obviously I can't tell you here). I was worried that Mark would tell me I was daft. Ellie has already told me that I'm daft but what does she know? I'm confident Isaac will love it - and if he doesn't, I will. So rather than discuss it with hubby (in case he says no) I've gone ahead and bought it. They'll both get a suprise. I have promised Ellie that if she is correct and if I'm not allowed to keep it for myself after Isaac looks at me as if I'm mad, it will be returned to the shop. So here goes. Will Santa get a gold point or are my deep seated worries coming to fruition? I shall let you know ha ha ha, or ho ho ho!

The beauty of life is in small moments, not big events.